The Anaconda Choke

The Anaconda Choke used to be a relatively unknown choke that has now been making waves in MMA for a couple of years. It’s a rolling head and arm guillotine used by fighters like Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira in Japanese Pride, Randy Couture in the UFC and Denis Kang in Russian M1.

I started using this choke in sparring about a year ago: occasionally it would work, but often my opponent would counter or escape.

Then Denis and I filmed his MMA instructional video, called “My Mixed Martial Arts”. One of the many things Denis wanted to show was the Anaconda Choke, partially because he had just choked out Alexei Veselovzorov with it.

I was directing the action from behind the camera, but even watching through the viewfinder I learned at least 3 details that I hadn’t previously been aware of:

The need to dip my shoulder when initially sinking the arm across the throat

The importance of getting my hand well past the bicep when locking your arms

The placement of my head to the side of the body during the roll, NOT on the back

Adding these details made this a far more powerful and effective choke for me.

Check out Denis teach this technique in the video below (this video was uploaded a long time ago so the quality on Youtube – but NOT the DVD – is a little low). If this is a new technique for you then your training partners might be in for a surprise the next time you hit the mats!